


runaways

by cracktheglasses (cormallen)



Series: Short Prompt Fic! [9]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gen, M/M, Melancholy fluff, benarmie, tiny children meeting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 06:41:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10380744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cormallen/pseuds/cracktheglasses
Summary: "I think you could come with me," for therunaways promptatthe kyluxcantina.





	

**Author's Note:**

> tagged kylux, as written for kyluxcantina, but they're wee tiny children meeting for the first time, so...

Hux makes it all the way down the wooded path, into the clearing dividing their lot from the neighbors’ before he allows himself to cry. Uncontained, the tickle in his throat becomes a twinge, a pull that settles in his chest and squeezes down, and he folds under its weight, lowers himself into the sun-dappled grass. The air smells like hay, sweet and dry; his nose plugs up almost immediately as the tears come. Hux closes his eyes, leans back against a tree trunk, pulls his legs up under himself, and almost jumps when he hears the small voice behind him:

“Criss-cross applesauce. I don’t like sitting like that.”

He opens his eyes, heart still pounding; the neighbors’ weird kid, whose name Hux doesn’t remember, though he’s pretty sure Maratelle’s mentioned it once or twice, is staring straight at him, too close, his overgrown dark curls falling down over his face. He’s dragging a Wonder Woman backpack behind him by the strap, and when he talks again, Hux can see the two missing baby teeth in the front of his mouth, one on top, and one on the bottom.

“You’re crying. Did someone hit you?”

Hux’s hand goes up to his cheek almost of its own accord, fingers feeling out the bruise undoubtedly forming there; it aches, tender and hot to the touch. He wipes at his eyes before he remembers he’s supposed to snap back, and it’s not like he needs to impress the neighbors’ over-achieving first-grader, but he fixes the kid with the toughest stare he can manage with the salt water still clinging to his lashes.

“What do you fucking think?” he says, listening for the boy’s soft gasp – he’s said a bad word, a very bad one, and the boy should maybe think twice about asking again, but he only scrunches his face up, and twitches his too-large nose.

“I think you could come with me,” he says, pointing to his backpack, like that explains anything. The white stars on the bright blue front pocket are already grass-stained and dirty, and it’s not zipped all the way up; Hux can see a big bottle of Poland Spring shoved inside, and two packages of peanut butter crackers.

“I’m running away from home,” the boy clarifies, matter-of-factly, and twitches his nose again. “You could come with me. I’m Kylo,” he adds; Hux is fairly certain that’s not how his mother had introduced him to Maratelle, not that it matters. The boy unzips the backpack fully, pulls up one of the crinkly packets of Ritz, and holds it out to Hux.

Hux shakes his head.

“I’m allergic to peanut butter,” he tells Kylo honestly for some reason, instead of ‘leave me alone’; Kylo considers this for a few moments, then rips open the crackers, withdraws one, and shoves it into his mouth whole.

He eats messily, mouth half-open, the gaps in his teeth grotesquely revealing, crumbs flying everywhere, and Hux cringes, resisting the urge to wipe at his own face with a sleeve.

Kylo finishes the cracker, and puts the rest of the package away.

“I feel very sorry for you,” he pronounces with a slight lisp, and Hux can’t help it. He laughs, sudden and deep, and keeps laughing, even through the uncomfortable tightness still wrapping around his ribs.

“Yeah, me, too,” he says, standing up, and brushes a stray leaf off his jeans. “So. Where are we going?”

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://cracktheglasses.tumblr.com/), maybe?


End file.
